Thoughts on books, reading and publishing from the staff and friends of the Tattered Cover Book Store.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Kate M. Is Recommending:

HITRECORD 0n TV is a new kind of variety show. Join host Joseph Gordon-Levitt as he directs a global online community of artists to create eight episodes of television--all made collaboratively. Each installment focuses on a different theme and features short films, live performances, music, animation, conversation, and more

HITRECORD on TV invites anyone with an internet connection to contribute, create, and develop art and media collectively through hitRECord.org, an online collaborative production company that brings together artists from all over the world to participate in the creative process, bridging cultural divides and false distinctions that separate professional artists from those who simply love to make art.

Through hitRECord.org, 1,295 artists contributed their original artwork to all of HITRECORD on TV's eight episodes.

This nine-book box set is the official companion to the first season, taking fans deeper inside the show's themes and the making of the series as a whole. It comes with special download codes for all eight episodes and the complete soundtrack album.

"I have read everything written on Marco Polo, and John Man's book is, by far, my favorite work on the subject. It's not only an over-due and important historical study, it's an entertaining ride every step of the way." ~John Fusco, Creator of the Netflix original series Marco Polo

The true history behind the Netflix original series Marco Polo, here is the remarkable story of the world's most famous traveler, retracing his legendary journey from Venice to China, the moment East first met West.

In 1271, a young Italian merchant named Marco Polo embarked on a groundbreaking expedition from Venice, through the Middle East and Central Asia to China. His extraordinary reports of his experiences introduced medieval Europe to an exotic new world of emperors and concubines, amazing cities, huge armies, unusual spices and cuisine, and imperial riches. Marco Polo also revealed the wonders of Xanadu, the summer capital of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan.

Almost 750 years later, acclaimed author John Man traveled in Marco Polo's footsteps to Xanadu then on to Beijing and through modern China in search of the history behind the legend. In this enthralling chronicle, Man draws on his own journey, new archaeological findings, and deep archival study to paint a vivid picture of Marco Polo and the great
court of Kublai Khan.

Amy Purdy, who inspired a nation on Dancing with the Stars and has been called a hero by Oprah Winfrey, reveals the intimate details of her triumphant comeback from the brink of death to making history as a Paralympic snowboarder.

In this poignant and uplifting memoir, Dancing With the Stars sensation Amy Purdy reveals the story of how losing her legs led her to find a spiritual path. When the Las Vegas native was just nineteen, she contracted bacterial meningitis and was given less than a two percent chance of survival. In a near-death experience, she saw three figures who told her: "You can come with us, or you can stay. No matter what happens in your life, it's all going to make sense in the end." In that moment, Amy chose to live.

Her glimpse of the afterlife--coupled with a mysterious premonition she'd had a month before --became the defining experiences that put Amy's life on a new trajectory after her legs had to be amputated. She wouldn't just beat meningitis and walk again; she would go on to create a life filled with bold adventures, big dreams, and boundless vitality--and share that spirit with the world. In 2014, Amy--the only competitor, male or female, with two prosthetic legs--claimed a bronze medal for the U.S. Paralympic team in adaptive snowboarding. She then became a contestant on season eighteen of Dancing With the Stars, and viewers were captivated as the girl with bionic legs managed to out-dance her competitors all the way to the finale.

Amy's journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity we all have to dream bigger, defy expectations, and rewrite our stories. Amy was given a second chance for a reason--to use her life to inspire others. Her powerful memoir urges us to live life to the fullest, because we are all a lot more capable than we could ever imagine.

George Foss has passed the age when he thinks he might fall madly in love or have anything truly remarkable happen to him. He spends evenings at his local tavern talking about the Red Sox and obsessing over a lost love from his college days who vanished twenty years earlier. Until she reappears.

George has both dreamed of and dreaded seeing Liana Decter again. She's an enigma and quite possibly someone who was involved in a murder years ago. But she's back--and needs his help. She says that some men are after her and that they believe she's stolen their money. And now they will do whatever it takes to get it back.

George can't say no--he never could--and soon his life is gone as he is pulled into a terrifying whirlpool of lies and betrayal, from which there is no sure escape.

Winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal and a #1 New York Times bestseller, this stirring and unforgettable novel from renowned author Katherine Applegate celebrates the transformative power of unexpected friendship. Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point of view of Ivan himself.

Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.

In the tradition of timeless stories likeCharlotte's Weband Stuart Little, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create an unforgettable story of friendship, art, and hope. This paperback edition includes an author's note highlighting the differences between the fictional story and true events, a version of the author's Newbery Medal acceptance speech, Ivan's "signature," discussion questions, and more.

The One and Only Ivan is a strong Common Core title that features these important strands and standards: first-person narrative; author's use of literary devices (personification, imagery); story elements (plot, character development, perspective).

In the winter of 1897, Elspeth Howell treks across miles of snow and ice to the isolated farmstead in upstate New York where she and her husband have raised their five children. Her midwife's salary is tucked into the toes of her boots, and her pack is full of gifts for her family. But as she crests the final hill, and sees her darkened house and a smokeless chimney, immediately she knows that an unthinkable crime has destroyed the life she so carefully built.

Her lone comfort is her twelve-year-old son, Caleb, who joins her in mourning the tragedy and planning its reprisal. Their long journey leads them to a rough-hewn lake town, defined by the violence both of its landscape and of its inhabitants. There Caleb is forced into a brutal adulthood, as he slowly discovers truths about his family he never suspected, and Elspeth must confront the terrible urges and unceasing temptations that have haunted her for years. Throughout it all, the love between mother and son serves as the only shield against a merciless world.

A scorching portrait of guilt and lost innocence, atonement and retribution, resilience and sacrifice, pregnant obsession and primal adolescence, The Kept is told with deep compassion and startling originality, and introduces James Scott as a major new literary voice.